Summary of VFA Online Course

Lesson 1:

• Why so many new ventures fail

• What successful ventures have in common

• The first four questions you should start working on right away

• How to evaluate whether this venture idea is right for you

 

Lesson 2:

• What a business model entails and how these models are used to develop and validate new venture concepts

• Each of the nine components of a business model

• How to build the first draft business model for your venture idea

• Defining your venture’s product and services and how they provide value to potential customers

 

Lesson 3:

• To identify the potential customers for your products and services

• To define customer segments and select which segments you will target first during early stage of your new venture

• To create a customer profile highlighting key and characteristics and behaviors

• The goals of the customer discovery process

• To test and validate whether your potential solution fits these needs and requirements, the product-market fit

• How to interview members of your target customers in order to make sure that you understand their problem correctly

• To evaluate whether these are solutions that the customer uses today to solve their problem

• To access what needs and requirements customers have for a better solution

 

Lesson 4:

• What role market research plays in new venture development

• How to estimate the size of your potential market based on the selected customer segments

• How to access the competitive landscape within your new venture’s industry

• To identify your direct and indirect competitors and evaluate their business models

• To identify both your internal strengths and challenges as well as those of your competitors

 

Lesson 5:

• What a minimal viable product (MVP) is and how it supports successful product entry into the marketplace

• Steps required to develop you MVP

• The importance of having customers involved in early product development